Children Story Book Review : Aru’s Balcony Garden by Arundhati Nithiyanandhan

Reading level: 1 - 12 years

Paperback: 26 pages

Publisher: White Falcon Publishing

Published On: 24 October 2018

Language: English

ISBN: 978-9388459136

Price: 199/-

The story revolves around Arundhati, a school going cute girl. She lives in an apartment community of a metro city and has a small garden in her balcony. Her balcony garden is full of blooming plants. She loves to observe them. Every morning she likes to spend some quality time with her plants before leaving for her school. The story is about one day when she feels that the wilted plants are asking her for water. In her favourite teddy mug, she fetches some water from the kitchen and waters them. The plants bloom and thank her.

Reading Aru’s Balcony Garden, reminds me of my terrace garden in which I used to water plants when I was in school. One day, my teacher theoretically taught me plant structure and its functions. To explain the things practically to me, my mother gave me an empty coconut shell and asked me to fill it with soil. Then, she gave me a cutting of sprouted potato and asked me to plant it in coconut shell with care. To balance the shell on slab, I placed it in a bowl. I put them in the sunshine on my windowsill. I daily watered that plant. I loved to watch it growing one leaf after another. When the plant was about 6 inches high, one day out of curiosity, I picked up the coconut shell and lifted it from the bowl. To my utmost surprise, the snowy white roots had grown out of the eye of the shell!

When my father returned home after an official tour, he was glad to see my interest in plants. Next day, he bought several pots made of clay. They were of different sizes and shape. He also bought some small packets of seasonal vegetable seeds. He prepared the terrace garden for me and sowed seeds like sem (beans), spinach, eggplant, fenugreek, tomato etc. in different pots. I never forget to water them and was eager to eat vegetables grown from my terrace garden. Till now, my craze to eat organic vegetables grown by self have not faded.

The author, Arundhati Nithiyanandhan is just seven years old and lives in Bangalore, India. She got inspired to tell stories after drawing her first storybook in a storytelling workshop conducted by #blrlitfest 2017. She loves telling new stories to her father while they both go for a walk in the evening. She has authored two more books namely ‘Lost and Found’ and ‘Likes and Dislikes’. She loves to play in the sand. Her hobby is to paint colour sketches. She creates her stories from her day-to-day incidents and most of them are treasured part of her childhood. 

Children Story Book Review : Likes and Dislikes by Arundhati Nithiyanandhan

Reading level: 1 - 12 years

Paperback: 26 pages

Publisher: White Falcon Publishing

Published On: 24 October 2018

Language: English

ISBN:978-9388459136

Price: 199/-

Every person has his/her own likes and dislikes about various things. Likes and dislikes are about our five senses. Five senses are see, smell, taste, hear and touch which we feel with five sense of organs are eyes, nose, tongue, ears and skin respectively. With eyes, we see beautiful and pleasing things and situations. With nose, we smell aromatic fragrances. With tongue, we taste delicious dishes. With ears, we hear pleasing sounds. With skin, we feel soft textures. 

Likes and Dislikes is a story about two friends who talked about their likes and dislikes while playing in the terrace. They discussed about what they love and hate to see, hear, taste, smell and touch. The author explained the concept very clearly with the contrasting options for each sense. The story is lucid and interesting. It is full of cute and colourful illustrations. 

At the end of the book, the author asked about one’s likes so here are mine....

SEE

1.      I like to see clouds.

2.      I like blue colour.

3.      I like bird watching.

SMELL

1.      I like the fragrance of flowers especially motia flower.

2.      I like the aroma of cooked dishes.

3.      I like the smell of first rain on the sand.

TASTE

1.      I like the chole bhature.

2.      I like lemon pickle.

3.      I like juice of neem leaves though bitter in taste but still I enjoy drinking it.

HEAR

1.      I like the burbling sound of the stream.

2.      I like sound of a temple bell.

3.      I like the sound of a flute.

TOUCH

1.      I like to touch rabbit.

2.      I like the touch of bird’s feather.

3.      I like the feel of velvet cloth.

Author is seven years old and lives in Bangalore, India. She has authored two more books namely ‘Lost and Found’ and ‘Aru’s Balcony Garden’. She loves to play in the sand. Her hobby is to paint colour sketches. She creates stories from her day-to-day incidents. She loves telling new stories to her father while they both go for a walk in the evening. She loves travelling.

Highly recommended for the children who wish to learn about five senses. :)

Book Review : Dream Sutra – Perceiving Hidden Realms by Hingori & Hannah

Sleep I must, to become one with the world.

Dream I must, for I am the world.

A dream is a sequence of things, persons, events, situations, images, ideas, thoughts and emotions that occur involuntarily in the mind during different stages of sleep. For many years, it has been a topic of interest of philosophers, scientists and spiritualists. Everybody tries to interpret dreams in his own ways. Matysa Puran also throws light on the auspicious and inauspicious dreams during different phases of night and discusses different ways to reduce the inauspiciousness of a dream by donating things and by adopting some other simple methods. Dream Sutra talks about the spiritual evolution of oneself during a dream. A spiritual guru (with or without physical body) appears in the dreams of devotees and disciples to impart knowledge, share experiences, give instructions, convey messages, fulfil wishes and solve problems. The persons who have advanced in the spiritual progress sometimes dream about their guru, receive directions and spiritual help from them, which further assist them in connecting to their higher self.

Author narrates various fascinating incidences about the dream and dream sequences of many from the past as well as from the present. I like the interesting stories of dreams related to the great saints like Mahavir and Buddha. He also talked about a dream that Raja Janak saw and its philosophical interpretation is worth reading.

Some years back, I had a vision of Bhagwan Dattatreya in my dream although I had never worshipped him but I strongly believed in his teachings. Like him, I too have many Gurus to guide me on my spiritual path.

The best part of the book is the explanation of why more trees should be planted. According to author, “We know that growing and sustaining greenery has multiple karmic benefits. If a tree were to bear fruit for 60 years, the benefit of that fruit being consumed would accrue to the planter or the person responsible for the planting, for the entire span of those 60 years. All plants, insects, birds, animals and humans who take refuge under the tree would also be indebted. Moreover, the use of the wood of the tree during its lifetime would be a credit to the planter and a debt to those who benefited from its usage.”

The quotes that I like from the book are as follows :

1.      While meditation and mantra recitation are ways of increasing the intensity of one’s aura, sleep is a method of recharging it.

2.      Seva commands great sacrifice and it is about prioritising the needs of others before your own.

3.      Eating meat and fish may be delicious experience but is also an expensive one. One pays for it in two currencies – money in the physical life and debit in the spirit life. Animal life becomes more expensive the higher their evolution in the animal world. The positive balance of karma gets depleted with such negative karmic acquisition. This is the reason saints call for vegetarianism.

At the end of the book, there is a glossary to explain the meaning of Indian words and terms. It is very helpful in understanding the concepts related to dreams and Guru shishya parampara. The illustrations are eye-catching, convey spiritual messages, inspire peace, evoke soulful energy and provide serenity.

Hingori Sutras has unfolded four spheres namely Dream Sutra, Aatma Sutra, Karma Sutra and Guru Sutra, the latest in the collection. If you have any spiritual queries or need any spiritual help, you can write to the author at hingori@hingorisutras.com.

Highly recommended book for those who are interested to know more about dreams and wishes to progress spiritually in dreams! :)

Companions

“Guard Uncle, don’t you feel bored sitting on the chair for whole day?” A kid innocently asked the security guard of the society who was feeding bits of chapatti to three kittens and their mother.

“These are my companions!” He said with a smile.

I stopped for a moment to look at the babies during my evening walk.

I asked, “Do you feed them daily?”

“Yes. I feed them twice; around 8 pm and 2 am. I also give them water to drink as it is too hot.”

“They seem very hungry.”

“In society, with numerous flats nobody bothers about them. Nobody feeds them. Nobody gives them water. You will be surprised to know that one day, I brought four chapattis for myself in dinner. But they were so hungry that they ate up all. Sometimes I feed them with milk, sometimes I do not have enough money to buy milk for them.”

I appreciated him in my heart for feeding his whole meal to cat and its family and remaining hungry himself. It is easy to feed a portion of meal to someone but it requires really a big heart to give whole meal to someone else.

“Do you have any vessel to give milk to them?” I asked.

“Yes, I have one.”

I fetch a bottle of chhachh (butter milk) from my home for him to beat the heat. And a bottle of milk along with a packet of biscuits for his companions. The kid took the biscuit packet and started feeding the cat family. The janitor fed milk to them with great love and affection. I clicked a photo of him with his companions.

He excitedly said, “Ma’am, why don’t you have a selfie them?”

Over the fence

“Aunty, please throw our ball back.” A kid requested me while I was on my morning walk.

I looked in that direction and saw three kids of almost same age peeping through the fence covered with climbers.

“Do you have any idea where it is?” I asked.

“Behind the cars in the parking!” “In the bushes near building pillars!” “In the grass growing adjacent to the fence!” Three kids pointed in three different directions. For the next fifteen minutes, I was searching the ball as per their directions but all in vain.

“Where did you saw the ball last time?” I inquired.

“There!” A kid stretched his hand towards the top of the fence.

“So there it is!” I pointed towards the ball as it was struck in the climbers and didn’t fall on the other side of fence.

While passing from that area during my daily walks, I had near about 15 times searched the ball and threw it back. It was a little effort from my side to encourage children to play outdoors and to be away from mobile /video games addiction.

Black Lotus App – An app that will change your life forever!

“Di, Black Lotus App for guided meditation is wonderful. I did meditation and chanting on Black Lotus and it was so reliving. Yesterday, I was having migraine because of some workload at office or because of extreme weather or both. Instead of taking medicines, I did guided breathing meditation on Black Lotus. And you won’t believe di, my pain just vanished without any medicine or massage. It felt so good.” My cousin told me. “I was introduced to this app by you. This App changed my life. I thank you, di from the bottom of my heart.”

“The guided meditations are in Om Swamiji’s voice, a mystic from the Himalayas. Many people including me find it very easy to meditate on Om Swamiji’s magical voice.” I explained her.

“Whenever I went in my mother’s room, I always found her busy in chanting mantras or hearing discourses by Om Swamiji on the Black Lotus App as at this age she couldn’t read much and moreover she was confined to her room because of her health related issues.”

“You can also even ask a question to Om Swamiji and can read the answers of the questions asked by others in Swaminar option.”

“That's great!”

“It is like a video game where there are different levels and you have to cross them to WIN. The Black Lotus has 10 levels and each level has ten sublevels. Select the option home, then the Path, then Achievements and you can check your progress in meditation, chanting, kindness, mindfulness, honesty, sincerity, self-discipline, reading books, world peace meditation sessions and some task related to Black Lotus App.”

“Oh! That sounds amazing di! At which level you are?”

“I have earned the badge ‘Explorer’ which means I have crossed two levels. Further my five sub levels have been crossed.”

“Now, you are close to win the next badge.”

“The next badge is Seeker and I am working hard to win it.”

“Oh! I am quite sure di, you will win all the ten levels.”

“One more interesting feature Black Lotus App have that you can do RAK, Radom Act of Kindness like planting a sapling, leaving a surprise tip, feeding birds, caring a stray animal, helping a family member, forgiving someone, making someone smile, helping a colleague, carpooling, donating items, educating a child etc. You can also share your story about an incident where you have done a RAK or a RAK done to you. And you can read the inspiring and motivating stories shared by others.”

“So, it is radiating positivity!”  

My extraordinary father

I was damn scared.

I was counting currency notes from the counting machine. Everything was moving fine. When all of a sudden in a bundle of notes it started taking two notes together and began tearing them. The speed of machine was so fast that before I could realise what was happening and I could switch off the machine, it had already torn 64 notes of 1000 denomination. Some were shredded so badly that I could not recognise which piece was of which note. All I could see in front of me was an amber-red colour ocean of bits. My heart sank.

It was a big, rather very big mistake. My boss, my father was definitely going to scold me heavily for this mistake. Usually he scold me even for making small typing mistakes of full stop and comma. And, now this is BLUNDER! I meekly get up from my seat and went in his room. I narrated the whole incident and waited for being chastised. But  was surprised when he only said, “Collect all the papers carefully and bring them to me.” He forgave me and didn’t scold me.

I did as told. For the next ten days, he pasted and joined the note pieces together just like solving a zigsaw puzzle. He pasted them with such perfection that no one could tell from where that note was torn as not a single joint was visible.

Now, he is no more. But I always wonder why he scolded me so much on pretty things and didn’t scold me for such a big mistake? May be because he was an extraordinary father! :)